older reports: 2002




These reports you can already read from 2202 here:

a-ha at the opening of the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, december 2002
a-ha4ever.com: Write your greetings to a-ha!, september 2002

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a-ha at the Opening of the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, 13.12.2002

On 13th December 2002 was the opening of the new Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, Germany. It was a REALLY cold winter's day (about minus 15 degree) and we asked us, how people can do an opening of an Open Air Arena at this season. The inlet was already 5.30 pm and the opening show started with a pre-show and then the fan clubs and junior football-players came into the Arena (because the Volkswagen Arena is a kind of Stadium and will be use in the future for football and concerts). Also there were some prominent persons for a talk (what they expect for the new Stadium etc.). And the VFL Wolfsburg (the local football team) was present later on during the opening act. The beginning of the music program was about 8.00 pm. First, a German band, called Furry in the Slaughterhouse, should play and then a-ha. With 21.000 sold tickets the Volkswagen Arena was sold out. But not all places were taken - some people must have decided against an evening in the cold in spite of a bought ticket.
During the midday a-ha had already a short sound check before they went on stage the evening. a-ha left the hotel about 8.20 pm on this evening and we followed a-ha to the Volkswagen Arena in a taxi. It was the first time that we arrived after a-ha at a concert. But we also decided to have a warm diner before the concert instead of staying the whole evening outside in the cold and waiting for a-ha.

When we arrived at the Volkswagen Arena we went strength to our places at the stand (the interior was closed) and a-ha started their 45-minutes set after a short rebuilding of the stage around 9.00 pm. The first song was "Forever not yours" and the short set list (only 9 songs) was composed of different singles from a-ha's albums like "Minor earth major sky", "I've been losing you", "Crying in the rain (duet with Anneli), "Hunting high and low", "Take on me" and "The living daylights". Finally a-ha played "Summer moved on" and "The sun always shines on TV". Around 9.45 pm a-ha already left the stage and immediate after that a firework started.
Morten at the Opening of the Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, 13.12.2002

Morten in the hotel lobby after the Opening of the Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, 13.12.2002
So there was no chance that a-ha played an encore. So sad! After the performance a-ha drove back to their hotel. We also went to the hotel and stayed in the hotel lobby/bar to have some drinks. Magne already left the hotel about 10.30 pm, because he travelled the same night to Copenhagen where his art exhibition started the next day.
Morten came back to the hotel first about 11.00 pm and of course many fans were there and had waited to have the chance to talk to Morten or to get an autograph or a picture with him. Also my friend and I made a photo with Morten.
Later this evening Morten, Pål, the backing band and some others had some drinks in the hotel bar as well. Only Magne was absent, because he was already departed for Copenhagen. About 2.00 am Morten went to his hotel room and he said good-bye to us or better he said already "good morning" :-). Pål was the last who went to his hotel room and he was the first who already departed the next morning around 7.30 am.

Morten first went to breakfast about 9.00 am and departed about 9.40 am for driving to the airport. We whished him a "God Jul" (merry Christmas) and he said it to us as well. The backing band were still at the hotel and went to breakfast 10.30 am. We also had a coffee and then we drove back to Hannover. It was a great end of the a-ha year 2002 for us!

Copyright & written by: Birgit Meyer, january 2003



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Write your greetings to a-ha

The possibility to post your personal greetings to Morten, Magne, Pål and / or to the whole band in the 4 rubrics in a message board is over! Thanks to everyone who has written greetings in the message board or has sent greetings by e-mail to us.All who have written personal greetings until the 13rd september 2002 took part on a lottery of 10 a-ha autograph cards! Congratulations to the winners.
Someone who would like to read the greetings to a-ha can read it under the following links:
Greetings to a-ha
Greetings to Morten
Greetings to Magne
Greetings to Paul
Greetings which have been posted after the 13rd september 2002 haven't been handed to a-ha
and please post no new messages now!
You can read now a short report. Enjoy it!


For Morten, who had his birthday on 14th september 2002, we had also a little orchid, you can see it also on the picture above. We had already given Morten the flower during the day without the greetings.
We already travelled by train from Hannover to Leipzig the 14th september 2002. When we arrived in Leipzig we checked into our hotel, which was also the same hotel where a-ha stayed the weekend. In our room we decided to take some pictures of the files with the greetings, so we could include them with this report and have them as a memory for us as well. The nice results you can see here.

The present and the picture of Morten - on the picture above - have been sent to us from two fans.
In the daytime we took a stroll through Leipzig. We really like the town and it was the first time for me to be there. After we had our diner in the hotel, we spent the rest of the evening in the hotel bar. Also Morten, Pål, Lauren and some others came to the hotel bar at night to celebrate Morten's birthday there. Of course, Morten received some presents, too, and you can see some of them on the right picture. When Morten and Pål left the hotel bar around 1 am, we took the chance to talk to both and to give them the files with the greetings from the fans. Pål seemed really interested and asked us what the website - on which I collected the greetings - was called. Also Morten was really open-minded and he took the time to chat to my friend and I and we gave him the greetings as well. We also had the chance to take a picture of Morten with the greetings from the fans. Watch the picture on the right side.: Morten in the hotel bar with the file which includes the greetings from the fans, 14th september 2002.
Magne was not in the hotel bar during this night, so we were unable to give him the file with the greetings. On 15th september we often saw Magne (at breakfast and as we left the hotel), but there was no chance to give him the greetings. After the first concert at the arena in Leipzig we came back to the hotel and the band arrived shortly afterwards. The atmosphere during the concert was really great and also the Danish band Saybia did their best before a-ha came on stage! I really liked the songs from the new album "Lifelines" live. After Morten arrived at the hotel he went straight to his room (he was probably tired), but Magne, Pål und Lauren and some others went to the hotel bar. Magne and Pål were really in a good mood and they talked about the concert tonight at the arena in Leipzig. After a while Magne left the hotel bar and he walked passed our table, so we took the chance to talk to him and to give him the file with the greetings from the fans. Magne was really kind to us and he also took the time to have some pictures taken with us. Magne then left, and we also went to sleep, as it was 1 am. The picture on the left shows Magne with the file which includes the greetings from the fans. It was impossible for us to take a picture of Pål with the file, as we wanted to have the time to talk to Morten on 14th september 2002 as well, but we hope that you believe us that we have handed the greetings also to Pål.

Copyright & written by: Birgit Meyer, september 2002


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